Many of us are guilty of over indulgence during the festive season.

Come the new year we have good intentions with resolutions to shed those extra pounds but how many stick to it?

By February, the enthusiasm to get fit tends to wane as people slip into old bad habits, but by doing so we could be putting our health at risk with diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer such as breast, bowel and kidney.

Also for consideration is the cost to the NHS – anticipated to be just short of £50 billion a year by 2050, when it is predicted that 50 per cent of the UK population could be obese.

In Bradford, more than 60 per cent of adults and 35 per cent of children are currently overweight or obese.

“We are around the average, but the average is dreadful, and very often the national average is going up,” says Alison Moore, senior public health manager for Bradford Council.

She says there is strong evidence to suggest that youngsters who are overweight will be overweight adults, which is why it is vital to tackle the issue early on.

Bradford has a range of healthy weight programmes for adults and children. Nine programmes are currently running throughout the district this month, and women-only courses are also available, offering people the knowledge and tools to make the right choices relating to food and healthy lifestyles.

The programmes coincide with National Obesity Awareness Week, running from January 13 to 19, and the start of Change4Life’s smart swaps campaign where people are urged to make healthier lifestyle swaps such as changing full fat milk to semi-skimmed, learning a healthier recipe or taking the stairs rather than the lift.

Alison believes treating the culture of physical activity is an important part of combating obesity.

“I think the golden nugget is physical activity and I would always say we can get on top of this if we can get people off their sofas – technology is making us sit down more, but if we can just start to get a culture of having an hour on the Xbox if you’re doing two hours elsewhere. It is about discussing sedentary behaviour, getting up and walking around,” says Alison.

According to the recent Overseas Development Institute’s Future Diets report, 64 per cent of adults in the UK are overweight or obese, classed as having a body mass index greater than 25. It warned of a huge increase in health-related problems such as heart attacks, strokes, cancers and diabetes.

Professor Paul Gately is director of MoreLife, which runs weight-management residential camps for children at Apperley Bridge. He says obesity reports simply tell us what we already know.

“We keep seeing more and more reports that keep warning of the problem. The harsh reality is we do not invest anywhere near enough resources in solutions,” says Prof Gately.

“And it is real solutions, not just doing a bit of cooking and eating and a bit of exercise. It is comprehensive weight management for people with weight problems.”

Prof Gately says that while focusing on exercise and diets does have an effect, there is also a need to focus on the root cause of people’s food problems which, he says, can be underlying emotional or psychological factors that need comprehensive support.

“Just trying to address the issue with blunt instruments like cooking and exercise classes will fail because that is not what works – we know that is not what works,” he says.

Prof Gately says investment in good-quality services is needed, and suggests that the Government sets up a Department for Obesity to help address the problem.

“There are 30 million adults in England with a weight problem and four and a half million children in England have a weight problem. What is fascinating is we have a Department for Sport in the Government and less than 30 per cent of people do sport,” he says.

While Prof Gately says he is into sport, he claims that while there are sporting bodies for the third of the population who are into sport, there is nothing for the two thirds of the population with a weight problem.

“Why haven’t we got a department for obesity?” he asks. “Let us have a department for obesity to start to focus on, not watching the trends go upwards, and doing something about it.”

To find out more about Bradford’s weight management programmes call (01274) 435387. For more information about More Life visit more-life.co.uk contact and for more about Change4Life Smartswaps visit smartswaps.change4life/co.uk.

Support and information surrounding National Obesity Awareness Week can be found at www.noaw2014.org.uk.